PICKET: Geithner debt ceiling date moved again?

It is being reported that the latest so-called drop dead debt ceiling date of August 2nd suggested by the U.S. Treasury will likely be moved yet again. Many are growing skeptical towards Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s debt ceiling dead-lines and his apocalyptic doomsday dates that are sounding more like regular Barbra Streisand farewell tour announcements. Below are news reports of the last few debt ceiling deadlines Mr. Geithner put forth:

The Treasury Department reiterated Wednesday that Aug. 2 remains the projected day the nation’s debt ceiling would be breached, attempting to set in stone a drop-dead deadline as the Obama administration and congressional Republicans continue to haggle over raising the limit.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told Congress he would start tapping into federal pension funds Monday to free up borrowing capacity as the nation hits the $14.294 trillion legal limit on its debt.

The U.S. Treasury will issue $72 billion in bonds and notes on Monday, pushing the nation right up against its borrowing cap at some point during the day, a Treasury official said.

Geithner said he would suspend investments in two government retirement funds to give the U.S. Treasury additional room to borrow.

The United States may hit the legal limit on its ability to borrow by March 31 and faces serious consequences unless Congress acts by then to raise it, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Thursday.

“Even a short-term or limited default would have catastrophic economic consequences that would last for decades,” Geithner said in a letter to U.S. Senate Majority leader Harry Reid that was issued by Treasury.

Geithner said it was hard to pin down exactly when the current $14.3 trillion ceiling on the debt limit would be pierced but urged Congress to act before the end of the first quarter to avoid the risk of pushing the United States into default.

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About the Author

Kerry Picket, a former Opinion Blogger/Editor of The Watercooler, was associate producer for the Media Research Center, a content producer for Robin Quivers of “The Howard Stern Show” on Sirius satellite radio and a production assistant and copy writer at MTV.